The present invention relates generally to the field of complex computer environments, and more particularly to the installation and configuration of a complex computer environment.
A complex computer environment is used in computer clustering, grid computing, peer-to-peer computing/networking, traditional client-server models, and other computer systems requiring the use of multiple computers with components of the complex computer environment running on each computer. A complex computer environment consists of a set of loosely connected or tightly connected computers that work alone, together, or in a hybrid of both so that in many respects all of the computers can be viewed as a single system. The components of a complex computer environment are usually connected to each other through fast local area networks, with each node (computer) running its own instance of an operating system.
In order to install and configure a complex computer environment, a user must set up a client server to distribute the architecture of the complex computer environment. The user must execute multiple manual steps or at the very best trigger some automatic steps. Each of the proper computers need to be identified. Then the installation of the components need to be accomplished on each identified computer. Finally, the components and computers must be configured to have the complex computer environment working in the right way. Generally, this can be done by manually installing the components on each computer individually or by a client server that runs the installation.